This is The Eds with Eddie Judge and Edwin Ado Jave, the husbands know Best two Teas production. Hey guys, welcome to The Ed's podcast. My name is Eddie Judge and I'm Edwin ari Jave.
If you're listening to this podcast, you probably know we are the better halves of Teddy and Tamera, but not a lot of people know much about us other than what they've seen on TV. So let's get into it. We're going to start today with getting to know each other.
Sound good? Yeah, no, it sounds great. I'm excited to get this thing started finally. Awesome. Awesome.
Well, let's start with a few questions. I want to know a little bit more about you, Edwin. Where did you grow up? So?
I was born in Bota, Colombia. My parents and I came to the US when I was six years old in search of that American dream. However, that American dream quickly became an American nightmare because, due to some unfortunate circumstances, my family lost everything we had, so much so that at the age of fifteen years old, I had to
become the head of household. And at the time, I was lucky enough to get a job working at a call center, which was probably not the best ideal type of job for me because I was very shy and I was very timid, But I quickly got the courage to do this job I did not want to do, just out of my desperation to help my family out. At this point, I was just tired of seeing my mom not be able to pay for the rent at the end of the month. I was tired of us running out of food at the end of the month
because we lived on food stamps. I was tired of my siblings, mother, and I living in this tiny little bedroom without any windows. And finally, I was just tired of like roaches waking me up in the middle of the night. So really, the avoidance of pain is what caused me to take on something that really demanded more than I thought I was worth at the time. And at the time, even though I was very shy and I was very timid, the one thing that I did have going for me was I was a big dreamer
man twelve years old. I remember my mom would go to work and I would just stay home by myself, and I would visualize how one day I was going to make one hundred grand a year by the age of twenty one years old. I didn't know how I
was going to do it. I just knew I was going to figure it out, and it just kept thinking about it all the time, I became obsessed with it, and so sure enough, when I got the job at fifteen years old, I just started focusing on what I could control, which at the time was my activity and my attitude, and I just had faith that the right people would come in front of me to sort of make the impossible possible. Was sure enough, I became the
youngest manager in company history. At that point. I started making some pretty good money at the time from a kid from hunting in Park I was. I started making about one thousand dollars a week. But more importantly, I became the right hand of the VP of sales of that company. And then three years later, he comes in in my office and he says, Hey, I'm going to start this home security company and I'm going to resign.
And he says to me, I can't guarantee you the seventy grand a year that you make here, but if you make this work, you can possibly be double, triple, quadruple what you make here. And the first thing I thought was, well, first of all, you don't have to be that smart to be to make six seven figures a year or eight figures a year. You just have to have common sense and drive. And that's exactly what
I did. I used common sense. I said, this guy's making two hundred and fifty grand a year and he's resigning because he thinks he'd make millions in this industry that's untapped. Second thing I thought was, man, if this guy's willing to mentor me how to start a company from the ground up, I'm like, this is exactly what I needed because I didn't graduate. I didn't go to college. I graduated with a one point eight gpa, and I
just needed a mentor at the time. And then lastly, I was just a huge Like I said, I was a huge dream. I remember, I would always ditch school, which is probably why I ended get up with a one point eight gpa. But I literally would drive to Beverly Hills in Hollywood Hills. I did spif sixth period go to Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills, and I was just I was like, WHOA, people look different here, people dressed
different here, The food tastes better here. And what was interesting what got me to Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills was this is back in nineteen ninety five, and Ricky Martin was a big hit back then, Like all the ladies wanted Ricky Martin. So I remember reading this magazine, I think it was US Magazine, and it talked about Ricky Martin shopping at employ ARMANI. So I looked up in Poyamani. I'm like, oh, that's in a Dale Drive.
Let me go drive over there, and maybe I could Maybe if I started dressing like Ricky Martin, maybe the chicks would pay more attention to me. So that's actually how I ended up on the West Side from the East side. And it was kind of like a pretty woman kind of scene in that I literally walked into Emporio Ramani with size forty two five oh one jeans, So my waist size was forty two five oh one jeans, some Harley's and a wife beater and and that's how
I walked into the store. And funny enough, the guy that basically took care of me became a really good friend of mine and like started hooking me up with all these deals at emporio. So I started dressing nicer and and yeah, gross started paying attention to me once I started dressing a little nicer, so it kind of worked, right,
But anyways, that's how it started. And so when I got that opportunity, I everyone told me I was crazy, because how are you going to leave this job that pays you, you know, seventy thousand dollars a year, with a four one K plan and all that good stuff for this unknown But my dream was bigger than any excuse that could make on why I wasn't going to take the opportunity. Another part of my dream is I promised my dad at ten years old that when he got out of jail, he'd never have to work a
day in his life. And I promised my mom at twelve years old that one day I was going to buy her house. So again, my dreams were bigger than any excuse that I could give myself on why it couldn't happen. And I took the plunge and I went after it, and here we are twenty five years later. You know, the company's made over six hundred million, and just last year alone and did two hundred million, and we're just we're sort of just getting started. But it took.
It took it definitely took a leap of faith.
That's amazing, That's really incredible.
One. I want to go back a little bit too.
When we started about your story where you were with your family, and one of the first questions I had was did you have a mentor guide you through your dreams? Because having a dream is one thing, but you know, executing on that dream and figuring out how to get there is really the key, right. And you don't need a Harvard degree for that. You need, like you said, you need will, you need tenacity, and then you need guidance.
Right.
So you answered that question by telling me that this guy that took you under his wing and said, hey, you want to make a million dollars, let's go open up this business. My question to you is how did that work while you were still living with your parents? I mean before you started making the seventy thousand or one thousand dollars a week? Were you still living at home? Were you inspiring your family? Were you driven by trying to get out of that?
Yeah? So I was a great question. Yeah I was driven because at ten years old. So what happens when we first came to the US. Two weeks after coming to the US, our home got raided by law enforcement, and that day both my parents ended up in jail, my sister and I ended up in a foster home. And then eight months later my parents get acquitted of all charges, and now my sister and I think that
this nightmare is over. However, the nightmare was just beginning, because every year after that, our home would get raided at least once a year. And then finally, when I was ten years old, so my dad would go to Columbia.
They couldn't catch them. He'd come back and back and forth. Finally, when I was ten, they were able to arrest them, and this time they put them away for a long time, and the cops were nice enough to allow me to talk to him before they took him in, and his last words were, son, you need to become the man of the house. And when I turned fifteen, I could
finally legally go after a job. I just started applying everywhere, and the thing was, no one would hire me because I was so shy and timid that during the interviews I'd get so nervous that i'd start stumbling my words, and then I'd sweating, and then so they probably thought I was on drugs. So finally a buddy of mine that knew my situation says, hey, when I found this company, they hire anyone, just show up and I promise you
that they're hire you. I'm like, are you sure. It's like, dude, I sent the last seven people there, They've all gotten hired. So I of course get all excited. I drive down to this job interview, and at the time, I had a Nissance Central that had no air conditioning and had those roll up windows, so it was kind of a hot day. So I get in there and I'm thinking, oh man, I'm already hot, some kind of sweating, but not too much. And I'm like, I hope I don't
sweat in this interview. Well, sure enough, two minutes into the interview, the guy is handing me over a paper towel, and I'm thinking to myself, oh shoot, he's noticing that I'm sweating. So then, of course the sweat just comes full throttle. I look like I ran a marathon. And this is why whenever I do speak on stage, I never see me dress in white, because that day I had a white shirt and you could see through the entire shirt. Is that's how much I sweated during this
interview and I don't get the job. So I remember walking back to my car and I was just discouraged as heck. And I go into the restroom to kind of clean myself up, and I just start pointing to God at the time. I just say, hey, God, I need a shot. Just give me a shot. I promise you if you can find if you can help me find a job, I'll work harder than anybody's ever worked. And I promise you I'll always praise your name on
an opportunity if you just give me the opportunity. And sure enough, as soon as I get out of that restroom, there's a gentleman outside and he says, hey, kid, when do you start? I said, I don't start. You guys are completely full and he starts laughing. He's like, who told you that? I'm like, well, the guy just interviewed with it takes me over to the HR room. He says, I need you to hire this kid. I need him to start tomorrow at three pm. And I started it
the next day. But here's the crazy part. That same person is the same person that's six years later helps me start the security company. So I'm literally I'm a firm believer that in life, people just need one shot. They need a system, They need to believe, a leader that believes in them, that's going to be patient with them, that's going to show you how to do it. And
that's It's exactly what happened to me. So I always tell people like, look, guys, if you guys want six seventy figures a you're whatever you want to make, you need two things. You need to find an opportunity that allows you to make that kind of money. Because if you can't find an opportunity that it allows you to make that kind of money, what makes you think you're
going to make that kind of money? And then the second one, which is the hardest one, is you need to find someone who's done it before, who has a vested interest in your success that's going to help you do it. And if you could find that person, you're pretty much going to make it unless you just don't work hard. But the hard part is most people that make that type of money aren't going to take you under their way and show you exactly how they do it.
So you know that was my story. I'm literally the story, like person gave me a shot and I ran with it and I never looked back. That's amazing. And do you ever wonder.
Why this person gave me that shot or did it just kind of manifest as the journey began? And I mean, obviously you ask God, and God placed him there and he gave you. He answered your your prayers. But uh, what was this guy seeing your did?
Did he? Did he ever tell you?
Like I saw your your potential, I saw your energy, I saw what you have or what you wanted.
I honestly think that the whole time they did hire anyone. It's just that I got so nervous that the guy in the HR room probably honestly thought I was on drug. This kid breaking? Why can't you stop sweating? What the hell is wrong with this kid? Yeah? And I just think when he saw me, it was more of like, we need bodies in here, let's get this guy in here. And then I just you know, I took on this like mindset of an overachieverer. I just was I was
going to outwork you. I was gonna I got obsessed with like repetition and you know, instead of getting I got energized by it and I was gonna outwork you. I was gonna you know, I took I went to all the I basically just I started showing up to everything. Like most of the people that were way more talented than I was, they would always they'd never show up on Fridays, they definitely never showed up on Saturdays. I like showed up every day. There was these leadership development
programs that they had, they never showed up. I always showed up. I remember I just went up to the top guy in the whole company and I said, hey, I went with my little radio shock recorder and I was like, can you just record your pitch for me? And he recorded it. I literally learned that thing verbatim. I learned it word for word, and I basically kind of took his confidence. I started to talk like him, I took his tonality, I started to basically walk like
him like everything. And I got my confidence from that, because really in life it's just confidence. The more certain person is always going to influence the less certain persons. So that's how I kind of got my start.
That's amazing, that's truly a you know American dream story where you know, rags the riches, you just worked your ass off, And I can't emphasize enough how important that is for people that don't have the opportunities to grow up with money and you know silver platter and you know Ivy League schools and all that. It really is a combination of hard work and tenacity.
What I think a big part of that too is we did have some money and then it all got taken away, because again, can't improve on something you're not aware of. But I think you know, growing up, I did have a taste of what having some money felt like, and then all of a sudden, like we don't even
have enough money for food. Whereas like if you don't know any better, like you don't know the difference, and you don't know what you don't know, right, But once you know, you're like, wait a minute, this is why I want to work my butt off. Like you know, you've never flown first class, Like you're probably not going to know what that feels like, so why would you want to go work your butt off to go get it right? But like once you do, you're like, wait
a minute, this is kind of where I belong. I need to go work my ass off to go make that happen. Let's hear about you, man. I know you have an awesome story as well, so would you grow well. I grew up in Anaheim. I was born in Mexico.
Came at the age at I think age two, and this is going way back, but I'll condense it. I I think this is one of the reasons why my wife loves me because of this story. Came to America with my family, and I'll never forget. We lived in a garage with you know, a bed, and it was my aunt, my grandmother and myself and these family in Fullerton was kind enough to allow us to live there for about six months.
I believe.
I don't know the exact timing because I was so little. You know, everything you know just happens. But fast forward. We worked our way up to an apartment and then from an apartment to a house, and then moving from city to city. But for me, I think what lit a fire under my ass was my aunt telling me at the age of thirteen, saying, hey, you know, you got to start contributing.
You got to get a job.
And I'm like a job, I'm thirteen, Where am I going to get a job, just like go down the street and start mowing lawns or something.
But you need to work. And I'll never forget that day.
That's actually when I met my adopted dad, and we share this story together all the time. We talk about it because we were in business together at one point and I'm sitting there on my bike looking at him, asking him for a job, and he's like, a job, what do you want a job for? You play with my dogs all the time and you're always having fun. You're just a kid, like, well, I need to make money and I'm all your lawn And he's like, okay, well what do you want to get paid?
Like, I don't know, you tell me what I want to get paid.
And it was that conversation that we had at that moment that we always go back to and we have our stories that we talk about, you know, how we met and I said, how about ten dollars? And I started mowing lawns for ten dollars and then doing jobs here and there, throwing the paper Sundays sock because the paper was so big, and then and then he started renovating his home, so he hired me on the summer and I picked up one of my friends and go
work with him. And we were just standing this old nineteen built, nineteen sixties home down to the wood and just working our ass up to make a living so we can go hang out and pick up chicks. You know. Everything was driven around you know, what motivates you, and at the time, of course girls were motivating. But he was my mentor was he just graduated law school.
He was doing very well. He was working all the time.
And one of the things that I told myself when I was a kid is I.
Never want to work that hard.
I never want to work, you know, twelve hour days, sixteen hour days, and have no life. And it wasn't until I graduated high school and I went to go get a job that I realized I don't have any skills. I don't have anything, you know, to give to anybody. So nobody would hire me. And I got to the point where I went back to work with my now father and he gave me the opportunity to go to school. So I went back to school, started working on business
and I was, like you, very shy. I was afraid to talk to people, you know, I had somehow I had opportunities, but always very shy. And I took a course in college, funny enough, for acting. And the reason I took that course is because I wanted to get my confidence standing in front of an audience and talking about whatever I needed to talk about. Because my vision was one day, I'm going to be standing in front of people in a nice suit, talking business whatever that means.
But you know, that was my vision.
And so the acting classes really gave me that self confidence, especially drama. Drama really helped me get into myself and what makes me tick, what makes me emotional. And it's really hard to cry on the spot, it really is, but those are the skills that I picked up that really got to know who I am as a person, what makes me happy, what makes me sad. And I'll never I'll never regret that moment where I learned who
I really was because of these acting classes. Now I did, I did do some acting and you know, some show I was on stage and all that that contributed to my confidence and it was a lot of fun. I got what we will call the acting bug, you know, like, oh, I want to be on stage. I want to be you know, a lead singer. I want to be a lead role. And then I tried acting for the camera
and that was nerve wracking. I just I there's something about a big lens looking at you in your face, you know, going Okay, do something, and.
I'm like, I don't know what to do.
And and and it's and I struggled with it. But from there I just went on and started working with my father. We started building his practice from the ground up. I think we started with like four employees or three employees, and by the time I left the firm, we had about thirty five employees, over three thousand cases, maybe four poor attorneys working for us, and I was, you know, I was leading that business.
It really taught me so much.
I started from being a file clerk to you know, working on cases, to managing a team to you know, managing the firm. So it gave me a huge It was it was like one of my girlfriends at the time said, that's your MBA. You just got your MBA running a business like this. So for me, the thing, the biggest takeaway from that was the complete opposite of what I thought as a kid, I don't want to work that hard, you know. When I got to the point where like, I got no other option but to
work that hard. That's when my life changed. That's when I started working hard. And that's when I realized, even if I have to work twenty four hours a day, is I'm going to have to do it because I have tasted the finer things in life. I do want a nicer car. I do want to fly first class. I do want to go to the finer restaurants, you know, And that was exactly what motivated me at the time.
I want to be, you know, wealthy. Growing up with nothing was a big part of it too, Like, hey, I didn't have anything growing up, barely had any clothes to go.
I mean, I didn't even have hand me.
I'm not going to wear my aunt's clothes, right, and she's only a couple of years older than me. But the struggle was, I think what led me to push myself to always work my ass off, and it got to the point where, you know, I think it took us about thirteen years to build this practice up, and it gave me the confidence that I could do anything, anything I want to do.
And then that's probably when I.
Met my wife, you know, it was it was a life changing moment for me because she's here, she is on this national television show, and she's telling me she wants to open up a business. She doesn't know what yet. It's either a fitness business or a bar. And I'm like, well, I don't know anything about alcohol and being a health not all my life. I don't really want to, so let's go with the gym, even though I know it's crowded,
crowded space. I did do personal training, I think in my early eighteen nineteen years old, and again I learned real fast, this is not going to pay the bills. This is a great business. I love helping people, but it's not going to pay the bills. So yeah, I mean, it's it's for me. It was it was being hungry and wanting the best for myself or my life because I really didn't have a father that was there for me.
I had an adopted father that I you know, took me under his wing and taught me what I needed to learn, which was to work hard. If you want the finer things in life, you got to work hard. And nine to five is not enough. That's not working hard. And and I think that was what my prayers, how my prayers were answered. I was just thinking, how am I going to do this? I can't get a job. I can't nobody's going to hire me. I have no skills,
and you know what am I going to do? And it took meeting the right people in my life path to get the answers and see the path right and getting there. But that's that's I think that's the biggest lesson I learned in my life and businesses. You can have all the energy and desires and dreams and visions you want, but if you don't know what route to take, it's going to be a tough route. It's going to
be a really tough route. But when you meet the right person that sees your vision, whether it's one person or many, you become very powerful, very very powerful.
So yeah, well there's there's someone you said there that I relate to, you know, I think you know what I've realized is what gets people to sort of move and finally take action towards what they really want to do is number one, the avoidance of pain, right where something's just hurting you so bad that you just you're not tolerating it anymore, or like the pleasure of where
you're going. So for me, it's always been both, right, the avoidance of pain, Like I was just tired of roaches waking me up in the middle of the night. I was tired of us sleeping in that bedroom.
Right.
But the other thing I did, which sounds like you did as well, was knowing the pleasure of where I was going. And I called that like touching the dream before you have what you need.
Right.
You know, you mentioned that you got a little taste of kind that good life, and it's what sort of made you think, Okay, well I need to go back there because it's a lot different from them from where I came from. So, and then the other question I had for you, can you still cry on camera? No?
I never was able to. That was the problem. So I needn't become an actor because I couldn't cry my camera. The instructor was like, yeah, you're not going to make it.
You got to that point.
It was the hardest thing. I mean, what I could do ed when was singing dance. That was my fun. I could do that all day long because that was In fact, I do remember distinctively getting the bug after a show and people there's nothing more exhilarating so far in my life than getting this any evasion from an audience after you just perform your ass off. You know, maybe speaking public speaking would be the same, but it's
such a rush. It is an incredible feeling. You feel so successful and you feel so admired, and it's.
A great feeling. It really is. So speaking of that, it's so funny. So at seventeen years old, I was a background dancer for a drag queen and we were called the Pretty Boys, and we would basically go to all these nightclubs in Hollywood and we would perform at twenty one and over clubs, and we're probably the worst background dancers ever, but it was Yeah, like you said,
you're on stage, you kind of get that feeling. You're like wow, and then you know, at that point, like chasing women was like my thing, you know, so it was like, Yes, I want to do this. Whatever is going to get me close to women, I want to do it. That's awesome. That's awesome.
So how do you think your culture has helped you and your success? I mean you touched them a little bit about if if you were you had money at one point and you lost it and you made it and.
You lost it.
How has your culture really helped you, you know, drive in this world in America?
Basically yeah, I think, yeah, No, I think for me, even though like it was rough growing up, the one thing that my mom did that was great for me is she always gave me a lot of love. My dad gave me a lot of love. So and they put me in sports, and you know, that taught me how to compete. That kept me distracted from all the bad things that probably could have gotten into living where
I grew up. But you know, showing me that love, I think really and showing the you know, one of my da would always tell me like, hey, you got to take care of your mom, Like, no matter what, you got one mom, You're going to take care of her and no excuses. And at a very young age, I just got the culture was like you take care of your family first. And I've always been very close with my family. You know, my siblings are kind of
like my kids. I've been taking care of them since I was fifteen, and I've been taking care of mom and dads for a while. But it's what drives me today. You know, I think, you know, if you live for yourself. You can settle for less, but if you live for others, it requires all of who you are. And you know, I think if you're just living for yourself, eventually it gets old. But when you got people depending on you, it's it's that nice little push that that you need.
But yeah, no, and obviously the food's great.
So you know, I have the exact same answer because my family didn't have any money of a stuff obviously growing up, and they also put me in sports.
I had Pop Warner football.
When I was I think seven or eight, and I'll never forget we showed up to sign up for football and they said, oh, well, his age group is all full, but the next age group up is available, and I'm like, I want to play.
Sure enough.
I was the scrawniest little kid on this team, but I was kicking ass because you know, I want to play. And I'll never forget that day. Even my grandma was like, you sure you want to do this as me whole because they're bigger than you are going to run you over.
Like, I don't care. I want to play.
But the most important thing that you said just now that really stood out is the biggest thing I got from my culture and my family is love. That just one thing, that unconditional love that this family brings to
my life. And I mean that in a way where because I had uncles that were into drugs and taking drugs, not selling drugs, but just doing drugs, were just not really great for society, and this is what I had to look up to, right, So I don't know, at one point, I just didn't want anything to do with that, and I thought I got to get out of this situation.
I don't I admire especially my grandmother, who's ninety eight years old now, she still talks about her children, these adult children, as their little miholes, right, no matter what they're always going to be. She's living in a home right now, and she's talking about bringing them to live with her so she can take care of them. Right. Growing up, of course, I would be around all kinds of people, you know, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the druggeries,
the smart people. You know, it's just the athletes at jocks. And for some reason, I always enjoyed the different types of friendships. But I never really was involved in doing the drugs or selling the drugs or I would literally go to my friend's house and and watch his parents do drugs on their living room table. That's how I was introduced to drugs, not because you know, my family was doing them, but I was like, I don't want to do that. I don't want anything to do with that.
So it's funny how your your your your situation is, You're You're presented with this thing in front of me, and you're like, well, what am I going to do with it? Right?
Do I punt? Do I sweep?
Right?
Do I turn around and run away? What do I do?
And as a kid, I I fortunately made the right decision, and that was to you know, avoid all the all the illegal stuff that was presented to me in front of me.
You mentioned you were shy, you were timid. How much of your confidence came from women started to pay attention to you. You mentioned when you were young, you started like liking women, and you know basically what every teenager does. Was that a thing for you? Women started liking and you got some confidence from it.
I think, if I go back, I had women that liked me, but I never had the money to take them out right, because it was you need money to have a girlfriend, and I didn't have a confidence I didn't have the job.
I didn't have any of that.
But what I started doing is working on myself.
You know.
That's the reason why I started working any job I can to make money and to hopefully build some confidence, because now that's the element I'm missing, right, And it wasn't enough. It wasn't until after high school when I started lifting weights and getting into bodybuilding and really and of course acting classes and getting into who I am as a person, what's going to drive me? That's what
gave me the confidence. That's when I started. You know, I had the money, I had the looks, I had the body, I had the car, and I started getting the attention. But it opened my eyes to realize that the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with does not have to be a supermodel anymore. Right, Yeah, she just has to be attractive and she just has to't like me.
So you know, it's funny. It's so funny you mentioned this because the thing that Teddy gets pissed when I say, I mean my wife. I think she's beautiful, right, but I always say, like, the reason I loved you is your marriage material?
Well what age did you meet Eddy? Because you know, I agree with everything you're saying, and for me, as you're talking, I'm like, it took me till thirty five years old to figure that shit out. I mean, when I met Tarma, I was like, I'm over it. I don't want to date any hot shakes in Newport Beach anymore. I'm just going to make a bunch of money and when I get old there I'll have a young hot chick next to me and that's it.
That's my life.
You know, I've given up and suddenly this beautiful girl falls into my lap. And it's a great story. I'll tell you about it. But I don't think I settled. I know you didn't settle. I mean, our wives are pretty damn hot, right, and they are model material, but they're just incredibly smart and incredibly driven, and they're so unique in that. I can't speak for your wife because I don't know her that well, but I know my
wife had her struggles. She had her first child at seventeen, and she had that struggle as a single mom for years and years and years, and it's a tough life and that drives you to want to be more. You know, she had a great upbringing and her mom and dad were awesome when we just had this conversation, but it wasn't until she was an adult that they got divorced and that's when it really affected her. But here's a woman,
I think she's just turned forty one years old. I'm thirty five and thirty six and we just meet and it was love at first sight. I can't explain it
to you. I've only heard about it. But what happened was my best friend, Marcos was he was my fitness instructor when I started getting into teaching classes and all that twenty some years ago, and he calls me and he says, hey, bro, I need to borrow your house cause I just bought this house where I live in Right now, we're filming the show The Real Housewives of
Orange County and we're just looking for a house. And I had furniture from my condo that I moved into this place and there was rooms with no furniture, and he's like, we're just filming, looking for a house to move into, and I'm like, when did you get into filming?
What?
Wait a minute, wait a minute, are you bringing Eva Longoria to my house?
Is this what's going on now?
I'm excited, and he's like, no, no, no, bro, wrong show. Sorry, it's the Real Housewives of Orange County. I don't know what that is. But Mikasasukasa, I'll be here. I'll open the door, and sure enough he comes, knocks, opens the door. I look at this beautiful blonde. I see hearts, I see sparkles, I see fireworks and and and my heart rates starts just running and I'm like, what is wrong with me right now? What is going on? And we just locked eyes for I don't know, it felt like
one hundred years. And and of course she said the same thing, like she thought I was not wearing a shirt when I opened the door. On what I was, and and Marcos always says, yeah, I had to kick her, like, you know, stop you know, gazing because a you're married and the cameras are on. It's like, oh god, it was. It was such an interesting experience. And the sad part is that she was still married. But that didn't stop me from flirting a little bit, you know, asking, you know,
getting questions and sending her a Facebook request. And she calls Marco's and tells him, tell him to take it back. I can't take a Facebook creek Press because my husband at the time, you know, he's he's watching every step I take. And I'm like, all right, I guess I was gonna help. It was a good looking guy friend requested her too. That probably doesn't help. That doesn't help. Yeah,
So fast forward about six or eight months. The holidays hit, and of course Marco's being the nucleus in our in our circle, we start running into each other at some of the same parties, holiday parties and all that, and I start getting to know her a little bit more. But we kept running into each other, and we kept you know, locking eyes and smiling and talking, and it was it was literally like we were meant to be, but we couldn't because we had this guy that was
in the middle of it. And then I think New Year's happened after that. She left them, and three days later, Marcus says she's available, and I'm like, okay, we're going to start dating. And it was probably a month after because she had to get through this whole transition from leaving, you know, her ex. It was about a month later
we had our first date in La Joya. I said, we got to go somewhere where nobody knows you and nobody knows me, you know, because I don't want anybody to know this, you know, because.
You're you know, you're on TV.
Then we went to this nice little restaurant I knew about in La Joya walked around and I think somebody saw us but didn't really say anything. They recognized her, but we just kept walking. And it was then that I realized, Okay, my life's about to change. This is this is craziness. But being with her in public and trying not to think about it, you know, trying to have a regular, normal relationship conversation with this woman. I think that was what really helped her understand that I'm
not after her for her TV status. I really want to get to know her. And that's I think what gave her the confidence, like maybe I'll give this guy a shot, you know.
Because.
It's a weird situation. Even today, it's hard to make friends with people because she's shot on TV and you never know why they want to be your real friend, right, I always question it. I mean, she's taught me to do that, but I'm pretty open. I will except for I'll accept anybody for who they are, what they drive, and what they do until they screw me or prove otherwise. Right, Yeah,
And I'm just open like that. So my wife though, taught me you got to be careful with you know why people want to be your friends.
You know, It's funny I think when you know you really like someone, when the last thing on your mind is having sex with them, Yeah, Like you're so into getting to know them, You're so into the conversation, You're like, you know, the sex will probably come, that's not even But like, if all you're thinking of sex sex from the get go, that probably means you know, you're probably not gonna like her very much, or you probably don't
really like her that much. When the last thing on your mind is sex, you know you like that person.
Yeah, I agree. I think you hit the nail on the head right there, totally. So how did you meet Teddy?
Well? Ironically, so with Teddy, it's actually pretty funny story. So I was we were both we met at a nightclub, and we were coming out of a nightclub fifteen years ago. We were both beyond wasted, so much so that the next day, when we woke up together in bed, we didn't remember each other's names nor did we remember if we had slept with each other or not? Like we we sort of thought we did, but we really couldn't
confirm it right. And what's funny is that the next morning, she's driving me home and she looks at me and she says, and I don't think we like hats said, And I said, why are you so certain? She's like, well, I normally don't date guys like you. You're just not my type. You're like wearing this low V neck, you got long hair like and like I normally date like blonde guys with blue eyes, and you're just not my type.
So I didn't acknowledge the statement, and I just thought, in time, I went her over with my wit and my charm, or so I thought, because literally eight months ago, so this whole time, I'm thinking she was never really that into me. Yeah, so about ten months ago, I'm going through photo books and I run into Teddy's scrap book when she was in high school. It's like a vision board scrap book. So I started looking at this
scrap book and I'm thinking, oh, how cute. These are all the things that Teddy was into when she was younger. And I run into the page where she has cutoffs of the people that her dream guys. And you can only imagine my surprise when staring back at me was Enrique Iglesias and Antonio Sabato Junior. And I'm thinking of myself, what the like, what the heck? I thought she was only introduced with blonde hair, like she totally nagged me on purpose, totally played me. So I called her up,
Wait a minute, you aren't. You are into some dark haired guys, you know. But the whole time it was just funny seeing that. But anyway, that's how we met, and a little similar story to yours in that she was in the middle of getting a divorce and I had just had a baby three weeks prior to meeting Teddy, and but it was from a previous relationship and we just we had sort of a bad breakup where we
just weren't going to get back together. And when I met Teddy and she dropped me back home, were hanging out and she's like, is that ultrasound yours? And I remember getting so nervous because what am I What was I supposed to say? Like, what is she going to think?
Like?
And I said I think and she said, well, how old? And I told her six months because I just got so nervous, right, and she meets her, I think a month into our relationship, and she's like, Edwin, this isn't a six month old baby. This is a month old baby. But immediately she just I mean that's part of how she won me over. I mean, she took care of my daughter as if it was hers from the get go. And and she's known my daughter, you know, from the
get go. Basically she met her a month, which she was a month old, and so anyway, so that was kind of my moment. But then another great moment with Teddy was again, I grew up in Huntingdon Park. So Huntington Park. Don't get it confused with hunting and beach, polar opposites. A lot of people don't get it confused
with Hancock Park. Huntingdon Park is Southeast LA. It's the opposite of hunting and beach, right, And I took her to you know, I still hang out with some of my old friends that I grew up with, and I remember taking her to one of my buddies party that he had in Huntingdon Park. And this is like an old school kind of call it, you know, you know, it was just the way we grew up, and I thought, this girl's not going to last here an hour. In an hour, she's going to be like, all right, we
gotta go. We gotta get out of this freaking place. We stood there six hours. She didn't complain. She just had a great time, and she treated everyone with so much respect where she didn't think she was better than them. And I was like, Okay, this is it. She is the one, yeah, because you know, especially when you meet someone in the West Side, you know, you take him to the East Side and they're like, Oh, give me the heck out of here, I'm too good for this place.
Right now, she was which again. And then especially with her background, with her dad being John Mellencamp and stuff, I mean, it was it was awesome to see her treat everyone with so much respect, and and I knew that was she was the one, you know now speaking to nagging. So when she told me that her dad was John Mellencamp, She's like, do you know who that is?
I actually said no, But the reality is I did know who he was because when I lived in Huntingdon Park in those apartments, we used to like steal cable, and I forgot how I used to do that, but I used to get all the VH one videos, and John Mellencamp's videos were always like number one, and you know they had the top twenty, and I would always see the John Mellencamp video.
So I knew exactly who he was. But did you know he had a daughter? Oh?
I had no clue that he had a daughter. But when she mentioned, oh, that's my dad, I didn't want to say yes right away because I didn't want her to think, oh, now he just likes me because I'm John Mellencamp's daughter. So I was like, no, But I knew who he was, right, and I just again, I loved how down to earth she was. And I remember when I first met him. That was a nerve wrecking be I go to Indiana and we meet at.
A McDonald's and all of a sudden, we's wait, I'm sorry to cut you off, but how long were you dating before you met him? I think, if I remember correctly, it was about five months into our relationship a ship or four months into our relationship.
Yes, i'd be nervous too. Yeah, And we go to Indiana and then all of a sudden, I don't know why we met in a McDonald's, but I just saw three subs and I'm not exaggerating, like three subs, dark subs, tinted windows. He would have thought it was the CIA, and like three dudes in a suit come out, and then all of a sudden, it's John Mellencamp dressed in black with his shades, and he's like, I'm John. I was like anyway, and then he gave me some ship
that that week. He's like, when you see these guys here, man, you mess with my daughter, come get you so you better break my daughter's heart.
And every man has to say that's that's like require with a stone face.
Like he didn't say jokingly either, he was, And I was like, don't you worry? How long did it take you to win him over? Brought a couple of years, yeah, definitely, a couple I mean he was never route too, but a couple of years definitely. Yeah. Yeah. There was a couple of times where he's like, how is this Edwin guy making the kind of money he's making, Like is he fucking drug dealer or something like?
So there that so anyway, but he was always nice, but yeah, I would say it took a couple of years to kind of gain his respect and know that I was really gonna, you know, take care of his daughter, which I probably would have done the same.
So after winning him over, and you know that was five months, two years, no you met him and when you were dating five months you won him over? In two years, how long in your relationship was it before you both were casted if you will, or cast for the Real Housewives. So we dated for two years, got married. Speaking of the dad, So I never thought I was going to get married, Like I was always just so scared of get married because everyone I met I was
getting a divorce. And I was so scared to get married that I was just trying to push, push and not get married. And at one point I remember just telling today, we didn't just have my baby.
We don't have to get married just baby, and she's like, you're freaking nuts, are you stupid? That's literally what she told me, And yes, I did ask. Well anyway, one day out of nowhere, she's like, hey, what if we just get married in Paris. My dad's going to be touring and let's just last minute get married in Paris and I remember always thinking that if I ever did get married, it was probably going to be last minute.
It was probably going to be out of the country where I didn't have to worry about who do I invite, who do I not invite, And it just made total sense. And then we got married. That was in twenty eleven. We had our first child in twenty twelve, our second child in twenty fourteen, and then twenty the end of twenty seventeen is when she got approached to do The Housewives show. And the first thing I thought was I
immediately got scared because I hate the freaking cameras. Like I've gotten a little more used to them lately, like, but back then, I was really fearful of cameras. How
does she present it to you? She just said she had this opportunity, there's this show called the Housewives, and you know they're looking you know, she they're looking an audition, and then she nailed her audition, and then I just told her, look, I think you're gonna probably end up getting it based on who she told me that they were also looking at, and that I remember just thinking to myself because it scared me so much. I'm like Okay.
I always like things that challenge me, so that I liked and then I went to go ask my you know, my friends, you know, people in business colleagues, like, do you think I should do this show? Everyone said no, They're like, that's going to end your marriage. What the hell are you doing? Your business is doing well, like that's the last thing you want to do. And at the time, Teddy and I weren't in a good place either,
Like we were a very very bad place. Wow. And we were such in a bad place that at the time I was thinking, Okay, well if she gets the show show because at the time, you know, she she was just staying at home and she had just started all in so she was starting to kind of get her life back, you know, as far as like when she had the babies, like she stopped working, she stopped writing, and she became more dependent on me all the time to come home, and like she didn't really have a purpose.
Not that raising kids is not, because that alone is a job's hearing shaft. I think she was so used to being independent and working and doing her thing that you know, we just she kind of lost herself. We started to kind of separate as far as like we weren't connecting, and again we were such in a dark place. Then I'm like, well, maybe if she gets the show, she gets a little purpose and then and then I won't maybe I could just go. You know, that's how
bad it was. But you know what's interesting is that when you don't do something for a long time, you're gonna dislike it. And like, if you don't go to the gym, if you haven't gone to the gym for the last two years, I promise you, you probably hate the gym. Right, you haven't gone since eighteen years ago, you probably hate the gym. Right, So at some point, like nothing stays the same, you're either getting better or you're getting worse. Right, And at the time, we just
working on a relationship. Like it was like I was doing my thing, she was kind of doing her thing. And what the show did, at least for me, it made me focus again in the relationship because I'm like, Okay, well I cannot I can't come out here and look divided because that's going to be a shit show. Yeah, And I don't want to live that, Like, I mean, I don't want to see my kids. I don't want my kids to see that, and I remember, just okay,
I'm going to work on this. And funny thing, when you start working on your relationship, you realize like, oh shit, our relationship is actually pretty pretty damn cool, and it's just getting better and better and better. So you know, I kid with my friends. I don't think a lot of people know that, but most people say that housewives ruined Well, the thought is that the housewives have ruined your marriage. For Teddy and I had actually saved our marriage.
We're actually closer than we've ever been, and uh, definitely is that's commonly. Yeah, it's just crazy, but again, it made us both work on something and again you start to realize, wow, like this is why I fell in love. But when you're not willing to work on the relationship, then you just start growing apart.
Right.
But if you just stop working on it, like you're gonna get worse. Yeah, right, because again you're either getting better or're getting worse. But it's not gonna stay the same. If all of a sudden you're not trying to improve that relationship and it's staying stagnant, I promise you, it starts to decline, but it certainly takes a team. It takes both of you to see the same thing.
Right. I'm sure she did her part and you did your part to bring this relationship back together.
Yeah.
That is an interesting point because from my experience watching the show for so many years and being part of it, I've seen more divorces on this TV show.
Then you know, then Court.
But that's amazing that it brought you guys back together and really solidified your relationship. Do you think it might have been because somebody put a microscope to your relationship that you thought, I'm not going to lose this. I'm I'm a winner. I Am not going to lose this, and I don't want I don't want an outside force to you know, ruin what I have. You think that had a part in it?
Yeah, I mean I think you know what was interesting is once the cameras are on, you like it brought accountability to me. Yeah, you know, it was you know, back fire to that there's nothing on Like if I wanted to do something and I wanted to do it, I could say could right, nobody knew who I was.
And uh, I think once the cameras were on, like it's like, oh now now you're you're accountable, right, Like, if you do something, the whole world's going to see it and all your kids are going to see it, right, And I think that's what like made me, you know, really focus on the relationship. And when I did, I was like, whoa, this is what the hell was I even thinking? You know, I was just in a dark place myself.
So for me, I was single when I met Dema, and I had to I had to figure it out. Bro I you know, the first year, I'm like, what am I getting myself into? And I went in it like like I do with all my relationships, just open arms, white eyed. Let's just you know, I'm up for a challenge, and like you, when I feel fear, I go after it.
You know.
That's that's one one indicator that I know I have to overcome. Anything that scares me. I have to overcome. And if it doesn't scare me, then it's probably not worth and it's it's been proven over and over that if it's not scary, it's probably not worth it. Anyways, So when I was involved in the show, the first year was a great experience and un till it wasn't you know, because they made me, they made me look like the Knight in Shining Armor right coming in to say that.
The first year or half of the season, and then they turned on you, or was it the first year? You were just like the first The first three quarters of the year, it was. It was the perfect couple.
And then they turned on me at the end of the season, and I had to make a hard decision, like, Okay, first of all, I have no control here. They can edit it any way I can. Unfortunately, because I had a legal background, I read that contract. So that was, you know, that was good experience. And then every year after oh wait, let me go back to where they they they turned on me. Yeah, and it wasn't you. It wasn't necessarily that they turned on me. I don't
think that's what happened. What happened was I was filming with my wife and I think it was Vicki and Brooks, and we were going to go film at the Catalina Island and I was working all day. It was a Friday. I skipped breakfast, I skip lunch. I was just trying to get all my work done because I couldn't work that weekend, right, and come five o'clock, okay, I finished my work, nothing in my stomach, jumped in the limo,
had a drink. By the time we got to Long Beach to the ferry, I was drunk and got in the boat. Halfway to the island, somebody said something stupid or she said some stupid and it just made me so mad. I lost my cool, I lost control, and when we got to the island, she was kind of elbowing me, like stop getting so angry. You know, cameras are on you. And I was like, I don't give a I I just want to get off this island. I don't want to do this anymore. And I slept
on it. The next morning I was fine, of course, and on the way back to the mainland, I was like, I have to make our decision here, you know, because I honestly do not want to do this ever again. And if I don't do this ever again, then I don't know what's going to be with this relationship because this is a huge part of her life. I mean, this is her reality. And I had to flip a switch.
It was a big mental moment for me in my life, where you know what, I don't want to do this, but I want to see what it is with her, and I flipped a switch in my head and I said, just do it, enjoy it, don't drink, and stay out of the camera, right, And that formula worked for me until today. I you know, like you, I just run from the drama. I know, it's it's not part of me. I don't want to be a sixth house wife. I
don't want to be a part of it. But I want to support her one hundred percent any way I can and see her shine. And she's just been amazing, you know, all these years, just not just in her skills, but tolerating this whole experience. You know, it's just drama. It's completely the opposite. It's exactly what I stay away from in my life. You know, I do everything to stay away from drama. And then it wasn't until she
got fired. I think it was three years ago. She got fired and it really put her world upside down. I mean, twelve years doing this, it was her whole identity, and she was pretty much traumatized. I mean it took me a year to talk her off the ledge. Like you know, there's more to life than the housewives and
the whole experience. You know, from the moment it happened when they told her they basically kicked her to the curb and she had to pick herself up and I had to help her and just be there with her and help her, you know, figure out other ways to make money. Fortunately, influencer marketing was big at the time. She was doing really well with that. And then a year later, they tried to get her back on the show as a friend and I said, no, don't do it.
You're just evaluing yourself. You're not going to be happy if you do this. And we got into a little fight about it because she was adamant, like, this is what she wants to do, this is her opportunity to go back, and I said, think about the setting, babe, you're going back to do the dirty work or another cast member on the show, and that's what you want to be known as. And we didn't talk for a day.
The day came and went. The very next day, she's like, thank you so much for not letting me do that. Thank you so much for you know, being there for me. And it was a tough moment, but it really helped her grow and realize what her true worth is, what her value is. And then I think about six months later, she got asked to go back on the show a full time and I'm like, well, it's your call, you know, this is your life. I'm here to support you anyway
you want. You're a lot smarter now you've gone through hell and back with them, And yeah, I agree, you're really good at it. You are really good at it. So if that's what you want to do about, let's do it. You know, I'm here for you. But and that's how she came back, and I regretfully came back. But I also had to you know, change my attitude again.
You know, I said, I have to be a part of this, and I tried to be a little bit more engaged this this next round, primarily because the negative people. When those people were fired, that's when I felt more comfortable, you know, participating, you know, being you know, engaged and asking questions about it.
Right.
So it's it's been a crazy, crazy experience.
I don't know what.
It's it's going to be, but for me, I mean, we got a wedding special out of it.
Yeah, which on the next show, we've got to talk more about that wedding special and how that all came about. And I mean, we got so much to talk about. It's funny. I had the same thing Eddie where I second. I think it was the second or third episode. Again, I was so shy and timid. Now I don't really have to do that anymore, but I would drink shots
before I would start filming. So one day before we started filming, I took a bunch of shots and I was so wasted that at the end of the night, Teddy and I got in probably one of the biggest fights in our entire lives. And they never showed it. And I'm thinking it's because Teddy thinks there was cameras in the car. I don't think there were, but she's like, yeah,
they just didn't want to show it. But I mean, they could have made me look really, really bad, but I think that first year they tried making me look good or us good. But the funny part about that is the next day we're going to film, so I go downstairs to go get my nineteen forty two start serving myself some shots and I'm like, this is water, and Teddy had refilled the whole thing with water. I don't want you drinking on this a freaking show again. And that was pretty much the end of me drinking
before we started filming. So smart, very smart.
Anyway, I figured to show that as we end the show. Yes, yes, good talk man, that was awesome. I think not a bad warm up, right, not a bad warm up, not a first time, not a bad first time. I think we're going to have some questions for our listeners. I think they're going to have a lot of questions for us. So yeah, if you enjoy the show and you have questions for us, please send them our way via email
or Instagram. There's there's a lot of ways to send them over, even through our wives because they're the ones that rupped us into this.
Yeah, and please leave a review, and again, you could ask us any questions from face, Family, Fitness, finance, fun like anything you want, Like just anything you want and leave a review and when they say hold back with our answers either.
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